Best Places For Handmade Accessories In San Francisco

April in Paris
15 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 750-9910
www.aprilinparis.us

Master leather artisan maker Béatrice Amblard is a one-woman brand. Professionally trained by none other than Hermès, her sunlit boutique and studio in Inner Richmond creates men's and women's handmade belts, wallets, purses, iPad cases, exclusive gorgeous handbags and more. Pieces can be made to order, from shoes to furniture to car interiors, just like in the good old days. You can buy from the collection or you can join a class at the one and only place in the USA where the centuries-old craftsmanship lessons of Hermès are taught to each student stitch by stitch.

Dr. Seuss informed us that his fictional character Bartholomew Cubbins had 500 hats in the Kingdom of Didd. And you can still have a collection of handmade hats, even if it is a somewhat smaller one. One of America's oldest hatmakers, established in 1895, is a fourth-generation family-owned business based in San Francisco. Both ready-made and custom-made hats for men and women include bold designs, classics, feathered, straw, linen, wool, fedora...you name it. Shop the vintage vibe display in the Haight or Union Square locations as well as this flagship address in North Beach.

Birthday gals and their BFFs, brides and their maids come for handmade jewelry priced at under $100 in this Tiffany box-like interior of baby blue in the Marina. Find impossibly delicate chandelier earrings of vermeil and heartbreakingly sweet Swarovski-studded teardrop pendants in sterling plate. Since opening in 2011, owners Christine and Annabel have been absolutely pouring it on, expanding their studio into an adjacent space. Anything and everything can be customized to match a dress, a birthstone or the color of your eyes.

From a prime corner of Union Square, this family-owned shoe store has welcomed tourists and residents alike for a quarter-century. Manager Ken Peterson has encyclopedic knowledge about shoes and designers, including the Bay Area's own talented Anyi Lu. A former chemical engineer with a passion for ballroom dancing, Anyi set out to create comfortable, yet stylish shoes with great cushioning and arch support. Marrying modern day technology with old-world Italian construction, every pair is handmade in Tuscany from premium leather, featuring memory-foam insoles.

A husband-and-wife business which began off a nightstand after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 currently has three San Francisco locations, including Noe Valley and Union Square. Unique and limited edition pieces are handmade, in many cases locally made, by talented, curated designers. Or, tap into a Pinterest inspiration and have an item custom made. If you have something in mind, talk it over. Otherwise, attend a trunk show or browse the wearable art on display as the name suggests, and know that everything's individually designed and hand-crafted with love.